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Bell System 543 motel phones

Started by jsowers, May 19, 2011, 03:56:10 PM

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jsowers

I collect old phone company magazines--the ones meant for employees and the ones meant for the general public. I've found all kinds of interesting articles on unusual stuff. Ten years ago at the local Salvation Army I found two new-in-the-box Western Electric motel phones, the likes of which I have never seen before or since. They looked like 4-button keysets. They were black modular phones and dated from 1978 and the model was 543. I traded one to Paul Fassbender and he has it pictured and described on his site, about halfway down the 500 set page...

http://www.paul-f.com/we500typ.htm

Below are a couple shots I took of the phone after I got it. Digital photography was in its infancy in 2001, so please excuse the grainy pictures. I think I used an Apple QuickTake.

Since then I found an article on the early motel phone system that used these phones, from Southern Bell Magazine. This article dates to January, 1964 and pictures the phones and the "compact" console (posted below). I guess for the time it was compact. Evidently it was an idea that didn't take off, since these phones are rarely seen today. I'm sure by now there are none left installed and everything has been replaced by touch-tone. But it's interesting to see how advanced it was for the time. Normally, you had to have all calls routed through a motel switchboard and all the phones in rooms were manual no-dial phones.

Has anyone else seen a motel phone like this? I have a feeling they're pretty rare.

I am also reminded of what my uncle used to do. He worked for Southern Bell for 30 years and my aunt says the first thing he always did when he walked into a new motel room was lift the handset and check to see if they had Western Electric phones.  :)
Jonathan

paul-f

Jonathan,

I have the phone prominently displayed, and have taken it to several phone shows for show-and-tell.  A few of the northeast switchers were quite impressed with it.

Direct links to info on my site are:
  http://www.paul-f.com/we500typ.htm#543
  http://www.paul-f.com/we543.htm

I was also lucky enough to find an earlier 543 with round keys, similar to the one in the article you posted. 

Now, if I could just find the console...
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

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jsowers

Paul, thanks for posting the white 564. I've never seen one before and it's obviously an early model from the first year they were made, since it has the open center fingerwheel and round buttons. The article is from 1-64, so it was just getting started then in the testing phase. From the area code, it looks to be from Utah. I guess it could be from a field testing site.

My black 543 isn't displayed. I guess it should be. One day I may do some research to find out what motel it came from in Winston-Salem, NC, if that's possible at this late date. I think it may have been The Downtowner, or at least from the name it sounds upscale enough to have a neat phone system like that.
Jonathan

paul-f

It would be interesting to track down the hotel.  Perhaps they had some marketing literature with room photos that might show phones.

Also the black sets have the W suffix -- without Bell System markings.

This maps into the conversation about 5302Ws -- http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4799.msg61367#msg61367

It would also be interesting to see a display of -W phones.

The white set has Bell System markings and was converted.  The base is marked 543DBC (over the original model number).  The original dates on the base, network and ringer are 10/57 -- however the housing is '63, the cords are '64 and the latest handset date is 11/64.  The feet are round ribbed, so were probably replaced in 1964.
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

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Adam

#4
It's wonderful to see jsowers' great find of the 543 hotel sets with the square buttons.  It's got me wondering...

Does anybody have proof of existence of the 1A2 key set 544 with square buttons?  I've only seen them with round buttons, and assumed that the 544 4 button 1A2 key sets had been phased out in favor of all 6 button sets before they got around to squaring the buttons.

My 544B key set is pictured below.  It's currently in use on my desk.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

Dennis Markham

Nice looking phone, Dave.  Like the photo with the lighted button.

Adam

Thanks!  Of course, it looks brighter in the photo than in real life.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

jsowers

I watched the movie "Sunday in New York" yesterday, from 1963, and in the airport terminal they had several black round button keysets with straight handset cords and six buttons, and the buttons never lit up in the closeups. Very fake looking to me.

Dave, I've never seen any of the four-button keysets, the 544s, in anything other than round. That's one thing that makes these 543s so unusual, with their square buttons. The red "button" in the 543 doesn't depress. It's just a message waiting light. The other three buttons do depress, but I'm not sure about their lighting up since I don't have the rest of the system.
Jonathan

Adam

#8
Quote from: jsowers on May 23, 2011, 08:54:41 AM
they had several black round button keysets with straight handset cords and six buttons, and the buttons never lit up in the closeups. Very fake looking to me.

It probably was fake.  It should be noted, however, that in 1963, 1A key systems were still very common, and they normally only provided hold functions, but no lamp illumination.  Only the newer 1A1 key systems (and later 1A2) always provided lamp indications on the key sets.  Both 1A and 1A1/1A2 used (with a small modification) the same key sets.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

paul-f

Quote from: jsowers on May 23, 2011, 08:54:41 AM
The red "button" in the 543 doesn't depress. It's just a message waiting light. The other three buttons do depress, but I'm not sure about their lighting up since I don't have the rest of the system.

It's a pretty good bet that they don't light up.  There are no bulbs under the 3 clear keys and the only bulb shown in the diagram that comes with the set is for the message waiting function.

This is the only model 4-key set I recall seeing that has square buttons.  Curiously, the BSPs I've seen don't comment on round or square buttons.  One would think the key and housing model numbers would be different.
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

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